


The Rebel Wheeler

by argylemikewheeler



Series: Tumblr Re-posts [68]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Punk Mike Wheeler, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-24 03:25:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19715287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/argylemikewheeler/pseuds/argylemikewheeler
Summary: Prompt: Mike rebelling against his conservative parents and getting an ear piercing, tattoos, and an 80s punk haircut. And Will is all heart eyes





	The Rebel Wheeler

At first, it’s just a piercing. Well, actually, Will thinks Mike has something stuck in his hair, like a piece of tinfoil or something. The glint of metal catches his eye as Mike whips his head to shout at Dustin talking loudly in the back of the car. He’s driving them to the movies and he turns back to the road while his hand reaches back to swat at their four friends in the back. His fingernails are painted, but so are Will’s. That isn’t what Will notices.

“What’s that?” Will asks, moving closer to Mike on the bench seating. He’s kneeling and carefully trying to pull Mike’s head closer to him– without crashing the car. “You have something in your hair, Michael.”

“What?” Mike tilts his head and lets Will pull at the hair around his ear. It’s uneven, cut at an odd angle Will doesn’t remember it being that way the last time he had it knotted in his fingers.

There isn’t anything. But in Mike’s ear, surrounded by a small, flaking ring of blood, is a safety pin.

“Did you… pierce your ear?” Will asks, sitting back on his heels and cocking his head. “Is that real?”

“Oh. Yeah. I stole one of Nancy’s earrings at first, but she caught me. So I had to make due.” Mike shrugged. He kept one hand on the wheel while his left elbow rested on the door, hand hanging out the open window.

“Michael.” Will said, tucking hair back and checking the other ear. Nothing. “What were you thinking?” Will isn’t accusatory, he’s just curious. There are a crowd of other questions coming from the backseat. They all want to see. “Mike?”

“I don’t know.” He mutters, eyes fixed on the road. “I just wanted to. They can’t undo it now.” He didn’t specify, but Will knew who _they_ was.

“Okay.” Will smiles and fixes Mike’s hair. “Just make sure you clean it. Keep it nice.”

“I will.” Mike nods. Of course he will.

“It’s lovely.”

* * *

The next time, Will walks in on Mike. Mike invited him over for the afternoon after school. Will had to go home and grab some books before driving back to Mike’s. The door is open and he walks in comfortably. Nancy hasn’t been home since August and both Karen and Ted are out. Holly is in the living room and waves Will in and points upstairs. Will follows her directions and hears Mike’s radio playing in the bathroom, but the door is cracked open. He’s singing a song from a cassette that’s always in his car. _Cry boy, cry._

“Whatcha doing, Mi– _oh my god_!” Will steps in a pile of hair by the door. Mike is standing at the mirror with a pair of shears and clippers in his hands. His hair is shaved around his ears and along the back of his head. His long top hangs over in an accentuated bang, going all the way around. Will had seen it once in a magazine before. But now it was on his boyfriend.

“I wanted to cut it.” Mike said. His eyes are red, his cheeks are shiny, and his hands are shaking. “I wanted to cut it. I– I wanted to.”

Will closes to the door behind him and stands with Mike, helping him cut the rest of it. He doesn’t ask anymore questions except “ _is this okay?”._ By the end, Mike has less than fifty percent of his hair. It’s liberating, he says, running his fingers through it. Will does the same. It’s weird, he admits, but the smile on Mike’s face is infectious. It’s stunning and bright. It’s beautiful.

“You can see your earrings better.” Will says, turning Mike’s head to admire it. There’s two by then, another resting just above Mike’s original one. They aren’t safety pins anymore. Will had borrowed two studs from his mother to gift Mike on his birthday. He put them in immediately and hadn’t taken them out since.

“Does it look okay?” Mike asks, tucking invisible hair behind his ears.

“You look amazing.” Will promises. He kisses Mike and doesn’t care about the hair that gets on his lips.

* * *

Mike shows up to Will’s house at two in the afternoon, unexpected. The car pulls up and the door is open before the engine is even shut off. Will is in his room, watercolor piece in progress when Mike knocks. It seems urgent– and Mike is never over urgently without a phone call. He always tells Will if he wants to come over for some time alone. But it’s different. This seems upsetting. Mike is urgent and unannounced. Will gets up from his desk chair and hurries to the door, pajama pants on and paintbrush tucked behind his ear.

He opens the door to Mike, leaning against the door frame, grin on his face. And upper arm wrapped in plastic. Will notices blood right away. He tries to get words out, ask if Mike’s okay, but doesn’t have the time. Mike’s kissing him, hands gripping his face and stepping them back into the house. Will doesn’t argue but he’s slightly confused. He places his hands over Mike’s and lets him say what he needs to with a long, soft kiss. Eventually, Mike pulls away with a smile.

“Guess what I did?”

“What?” Will is still looking at the plastic wrap on his arm, and he hopes the answer will relate to the apparent injury he’s sustained since Friday at school. “What’d you do now?”

“Remember that drawing you did for me– that floral piece you did, with the red and t-the purple?”

“You mean the senior piece I did about _bleeding pansies_.” Will laughs, shaking his head. It was the least subtle drawing he’d done about being out in Hawkins. Bleeding pansies. Two of them, purple with their own black faces and white pedals highlighting the shape. The stems were cut short, blood leaking down the page to pool along the bottom. It was obvious. It was about _them_.

“Yeah. Yeah! That one.” Mike nods, still gripping Will’s face. He looks like he wants to kiss him again, but he’s trying to focus on his words. “I love that one.”

“Okay… what about it?” Will touches Mike’s face. He moves a wild tuft of hair out of his face. He’s got an eyebrow piercing now too. Will’s fingers gently trace the bar in his eyebrow. “Michael, you’re kind of scaring me.”

“No. No– I’m sorry. Just… here.” Mike drops Will’s face and reaches for the plastic. He unravels it quickly, the wrap peeling away with a strange ripping sound. It falls away and Will is left staring at Mike’s arm– different now. _Tattooed_.

It’s his piece. The two of them. Pansies and dripping thick, crimson blood– or maybe that was from the needle. It was delicate but purposeful. The lines dark and strong. It was his work, forever under Mike’s skin. Their struggle, their love, for all to see.

“I– Michael.” Will breathes, reaching out but afraid to touch it. “That’s my work.”

“Yeah, it’s yours. I wanted to have it with me always. You’re with me always, Will.” Mike nods, pulling at the skin to look at the work closely. “I love you.”

Will doesn’t know what to say. He’s shocked and confused and _in love_ with Mike Wheeler. He’s the most ridiculous man he’s ever had the pleasure of being in love with. He’s honored to have a place in Mike’s world– something so turbulent as of late. He’s a beautiful and he’s brave.

Will is silent for what feels like hours. He’s staring at Mike, hands clutching his face and eyes welling with tears. He feels loved, but more importantly, he wants to know if _Mike_ feels loved. If this boy knows just how much the world loves having him around, even if his house doesn’t.

Will asks. Mike nods.

“When I’m with you, I always know.” Mike kisses Will. “When I’m with you, nothing can stop me.”

**Author's Note:**

> [The Rebloggable Post!](https://argylemikewheeler.tumblr.com/post/179366278995/ive-seen-fics-and-hcs-where-will-is-the)


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